5.24.2006

My name is Aubrey Hesselgren. This is Blog about a game I am working on.

I previously worked at Streamline Studios. For a year, I was Lead Game Designer on a game called "HoopWorld" slated for Xbox360 Live Arcade. Before that, I worked on mods, and an abstract 3D shooty game. I'm not what you'd call a gaming veteran. I grew up with games as my primary form of entertainment. With a few exceptions, I didn't feel like games grew up with me.

The reason for this blog is to document (as far as I'm allowed to) the journey from a professional development background to becoming an indie developer. I hope that it'll atleast give some kind of anecdotal insight for anyone else wanting to pursue the path - I know you're out there.

Distribution models like Steam, PopCap, and Xbox Live Arcade are making it possible for tiny developers, with small (but perfectly formed) games to make a living out of something that could have only been under the radar projects a year or two ago. Nowadays, for the creatives in game development, spending years trying to climb the ladder of a bigger and more secure company is no longer the path of least resistance to getting one's game made. I know of more than a few developers who are itching to get their modest proposals out, who no longer feel like it'll lead to total destitution.

My feeling is that this influx will create an indie gold rush. Many of us may fail to win one of the prized slots, because it's clear that no-one wants to oversaturate any one of these distribution models (not that there aren't alternatives to these). Despite this competitive starting state, I call every indie my brother, because it is at the fringes of any medium that creative force gains most traction. Whether or not this game succeeds, it will only give way to something that does something great for the interactive medium. We are all in this together, pushing games forward.

Today is the first day of my development of a new game. I don't want to say what the game is just yet, which is a bit annoying of me, I know. I'll try to update regularly, but I won't make any promises.

1:37pm. Restate my Assumptions:

Aubrey Hesselgren and Tommy Refenes are Designer and Coder at indie outfit Amorphous. This blog tells an occasional tale of a life lived mainly in their own bedrooms while making a fairly weird game with close to no income. They've been too scared previously to tell anyone about "Goo", incase they are pointed and laughed at by all the other indie developers, who are much cooler and better and stuff. Recently, though, they've grown something approximating a testicle, so now you can see an early (early [early]) video of their progress.

All opinions expressed on this site in no way represent those of Aubrey, Tommy, or Amorphous. They reflect your opinions. Shut up and conform!